When he first saw this intruder, Li Qiang was alarmed by his sudden entrance— only to be bewildered by his absurd appearance an instant later.
The intruder was a handsome middle-aged man with sharp features, looking like a natural born ruler. However, not only was he wearing white robes that only Outer Court disciples from the Profound Blossom Sect would normally wear, but the robes were also clearly too small to fit his large figure, making him look quite ridiculous, even like a pervert to some extent.
“Who the hell are you?!” Li Qiang cried out with alarm.
“A messenger from Heaven,” said Su Yang jokingly in a disguised voice.
“What nonsense are you spouting?” Li Qiang looked at him with ridicule, like he was looking at a clown.
“I didn’t come here to kill you at first, but after hearing your mumble, I’ve decided that it would be better to kill you after all.”
Li Qiang looked dazed for a moment before bursting with laughter.
“I don’t know which circus you came from, nor why you are here in the first place, but if you think that I will let you kill me and leave after intruding my room like this, then you really are a clown— a foolish clown!”
“Pretty big talk for someone who’d just got scolded by his woman for being useless.” Su Yang laughed without reserve, causing Li Qiang’s face to flush red from anger.
“If I don’t kill you tonight, then I am not a man!” Li Qiang roared, his forehead filled with veins of rage.
Seeing his eagerness to fight, Su Yang casually shrugged his shoulders with a smile on his face. “I am pretty confident that you have already exhausted a good amount of your Profound Qi after your cultivation tonight…”
When Li Qiang heard Su Yang’s words, his complexion instantly paled, looking as though he’d just swallowed something filthy.
He then touched the ring on his hand, and a steel sword that radiated with Profound Qi emerged from within the ring and into his grasp.
“A Spirit-grade Spiritual Treasure? Do you really believe that some rubbish toothpick will save you from me?” Su Yang scoffed as he slowly approached Li Qiang with empty hands.
His actions caused Li Qiang to be taken aback.
“Does he really think that he can fight me, who has a Spiritual Weapon, empty-handed?” he inwardly sneered at Su Yang’s arrogance, but the ominous feeling that was weighing down his heart did not disappear and instead continued to increase as Su Yang got closer.
“Die for me— Eight Point Strike!”
When Su Yang reached a certain distance from him, Li Qiang suddenly thrust his sword forward at a speed that made it seem like there were eight swords heading towards Su Yang instead of just one.
“What cheap tricks…”
When the sword was seemingly an instant away from piercing a hole between his brows, Su Yang’s hands vanished from his sides and appeared before his face to catch one of the eight strikes, ignoring the remaining seven.
“What!?”
Before he could penetrate Su Yang’s skin with his sword, Li Qiang suddenly felt as though he’d struck a steel wall and his sword would not move forward even the slightest no matter how much he pushed or pulled. It was as if he had stabbed the ground so hard that his sword was stuck inside the dirt, yet what he aimed his sword at was not the ground but the middle-aged man in front of him!
Li Qiang was dumbfounded for an instant, but when he realized what had happened, all the hair on his body stood up like spikes on a certain rodent.
“Indeed, what the people say about the Profound Blossom Sect having only high cultivation bases and lacking in techniques is true and not one bit misleading…” said Su Yang, who was currently holding Li Qiang’s sword with only two fingers, even looking a bit bored of the situation.
“I-Impossible…”
After struggling for a moment and realizing that his sword would not budge unless Su Yang released his fingers, Li Qiang willingly removed his grip from the sword and slowly staggered backward.
In his mind, he was shocked speechless at the clear disparity between their strength that was like heaven and earth.
“At your current condition, you are equal to someone at the middle stages of the True Spirit Realm at best, not even worth my effort,” Su Yang directly threw Li Qiang’s Spiritual Treasure into his storage ring the moment he released his grip on the handle, stealing it for himself.
Because Li Qiang had just finished cultivating with Liu Lanzhi, his cultivation base was exhausted. And Su Yang, who cultivated his physique to the late stages of the Profound Spirit Realm with one of the best body refining techniques in the world, he was capable of taking care of the weakened Li Qiang without the assistance of his cultivation base at the True Spirit Realm.
While Body Refiners are too few and far between in the Cultivation World due to the harsh cultivating methods being too difficult for the majority to endure, they are also the strongest type of Cultivators when in close combat with a prowess that could easily overwhelm any Qi Refiners that are one— even two realms above them if the technique they used is of superior quality.
And at Su Yang’s current state, he has the capabilities to fight someone at the Earth Spirit Realm with his physical body alone, and perhaps even Heavenly Spirit Realm if he used his entire cultivation base.
As such, dealing with Li Qiang, who is not only weakened but also an Earth Spirit Realm master, Su Yang naturally wouldn’t have any problems with him in close combat.
“W-Who are you!? W-Why are you doing this?! I do not recall ever offending someone like you!” Li Qiang began sweating profusely once he realized that he stood no chance against this mysterious intruder, especially not when he was in a weakened state.
Hell, even if he was in top condition, he still wouldn’t dare say with confidence that he could fight Su Yang survive, much less come out as victorious!
“You didn’t offend me directly, but when you decided to lay hands on her, your fate has already been dictated by the heavens,” said Su Yang as he began taking steps towards the trembling Li Qiang.
“Her? Who are you referring to by ‘her’?! I don’t even remember—” Li Qiang’s expression suddenly froze, and the image of Elder Lan emerged from his chaotic mind.
“E-Elder Lan? Are you talking about Elder Lan? Y-You can have her! If you spare my life today, I will never look at her again, much less think about touching her! I am the Patriarch of this Sect! If I die—” Although he was puzzled by Lan Liqing’s relationship with this mysterious intruder with profound strength, he wasn’t in the situation to think about it properly and begged for his life instead.
Su Yang suddenly burst out laughing, and he spoke in a slow and calm manner: “I don’t need your permission to take her, as you can’t give me what is already mine!”
He then raised his hand and aimed for Li Qiang’s heart with a palming strike.
“Soul Sealing Palm Strike!”
The strike landed directly on Li Qiang’s chest an instant later, and he stared at the Heavenly Emperor’s face before him with hatred while he slowly fell to the ground, until the life in his dimly lit eyes vanished like the light of a blown out candle.
